RESEARCH
Cutting Across Disciplines
The Reuveni group conducts basic theoretical research that cuts across traditional disciplinary boundaries in attempt to mathematically describe, explain, predict, and understand natural phenomena. We aim to challenge conventional wisdom, are in constant pursuit of universality, and strive to arbitrage large knowledge gaps as they appear at the cutting-edge of the scientific forefront.
Exploring Randomness
We are broadly interested in complex systems that are governed by statistical laws and random events. These systems are prevalent in the world around us and we study them using a combination of general theory, mathematical modeling, computer simulations, and data analysis. We put special emphasis on universality and make serious efforts to generalize lessons learned from simple models.
Restart: The Science of Starting Anew
Stopping a process in its midst—only to start it all over again—may prolong, leave unchanged, or even shorten the time taken for its completion. Among these three possibilities, the latter is particularly interesting as it suggests that restart can expedite the completion of complex processes involving strong elements of chance. This turned out to be important in computer science where restart drastically improves performance of randomized algorithms, but is not less relevant to many physical, chemical, and biological processes where restart plays a central role. We develop and advance the theory of stochastic resetting and study its applications: from search processes to enzymatic catalysis and from queueing theory to enhanced sampling.
Theory for Single-X Science
New technologies now allow us to observe and manipulate single molecules and individual cells. At this level of description randomness reigns supreme, but classical theoretical approaches are deeply entrenched in determinism and so is our everyday intuition for how the world behaves. We develop theoretical tools apt for the single-X era. We hope that these will not only shed new light on existing experimental observations, but also predict the emergence of new & novel phenomena.
Living on the Edge?
Physical & Mathematical laws dictate fundamental limits and trade-offs that bound the performance of real world systems. Living systems are also bound by such constraints, but it is currently unclear whether these took an active part in shaping life & the molecules that make life possible. If evolution pushed living systems to the edge of performance, theoretical characterization of the performance envelope could teach us something new and exciting about life. We combine theory, modeling, and data analysis to study this hypothesis.